Profile of Barack Obama

It is without a doubt one of the biggest upsets in modern American presidential politics.

After a marathon Democratic primary campaign, Barack Obama, the first-term Senator from Illinois and self-described "hope-monger", has defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first lady-turned New York Senator and widely presumed "inevitable" nominee.

It's an achievement that just months ago, few would have predicted -that an African-American lawmaker, relatively new to the national political scene, could take on one of the greatest political machines in modern history- and win.

Obama now becomes the first black man to run as the nominee of a major party in the US general election. And should he win, he'll become the first black president in the history of the United States.

American University presidential historian Allan Lichtman explains: "Barack Obama is a political phenomenon, a multiple breakthrough candidate. He is a first-term Senator with limited experience in national politics and he is not only the first African American to run for president on a major party ticket, he's the first African American even to be on a major party ticket". That rise to become the first black nominee on a major party ticket was long, hard-fought and anything but smooth.

Obama began the race with a bang, a stunning first-place victory in Iowa which delivered a major upset to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. "On this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do", Obama said to a cheering crowd in DesMoines.

Defeat

But five days later, the Obama campaign suffered an equally stunning defeat, an unexpected loss to Clinton in New Hampshire, and a possible insurmountable upset.

Despite that blow, and a subsequent, narrow loss in Nevada, the Obama camp resisted any campaign shake-ups, choosing instead to plow ahead and stay focused on its strategy of getting out the vote. It was a strategy that served him well on Super Tuesday and beyond.

'Bring us together' strategy

He had a strategy. He never much went off his line of reasoning. It was a 'bring us together' type of strategy. He had a sense of what the nation needed as well", said presidential historian Stephen Hess. "He was a candidate who was comfortable in his own skin, with a message that voters wanted to hear and a willingness to embrace new technologies to bring more people into the process" added Democratic strategist Jenny Backus. And embrace technology he did, in ways completely new to presidential politics.

Obama used the Internet to organize, market himself and raise massive amounts of money in ways no campaign had ever managed to do before. It paid off - and hugely so.

"If you can say four years ago, Howard Dean taught us some things about how to raise money on the Internet, Obama went way beyond that. He truly organized", Hess said. "Suddenly, he's in Montana and there's an organization in place. How did it get there? It got there through a network that had been created over the Internet. And Hillary Clinton didn't figure that out for a long time".

That shortcoming and the Clinton campaign strategy of focusing entirely on the big states while ignoring the smaller, caucus states, provided Obama with what turned out to be a major advantage.

Obama's small victories

While Clinton drained her resources on states like California and New York, Obama's small victories in places like Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota added up, eventually driving his delegate count to the point where it was near impossible for Clinton to catch up.

"If Hillary Clinton is going to kick herself after this for one thing, it's going to be that she let Barack Obama, this newcomer, this neophyte, out-organize her", said Lichtman.

Going forward, Obama's organization in those smaller states could prove to be a treasure trove as he faces Republican John McCain in November.

Better prepared candidate

Strategists say the drawn out primary race left Obama stronger in other ways, as well, perhaps most importantly as a candidate better prepared to face the fight of his life against a well-oiled Republican machine.

"I think Barack Obama is a much better candidate and campaigner today than he was when he started out. He has learned how to take some punches", strategist Baucus said.

Nasty race ahead

But the punches have just begun. The general election campaign is bound to be brutal, with his opponents sure to go after Obama's inexperience, his associations with controversial figures like Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and of course, his race.

Lichtman said, no doubt about it, the race ahead will get nasty. "Unquestionably, they're going to go after his name, they're going to continue to monger rumors that he really is a Muslim, they're going to continue to stress associations with alleged radicals and militants. Anything that can be thrown against Barack Obama, I fear, will be thrown against him in this campaign", he said.

The question, of course, as Obama looks towards November is whether the movement Obama started will be enough to turn the first black candidate to lead his party's bid for the White House into the first black president to actually live in the White House.